Currently, two construction projects are going on in New Ulm. The 20th South Street construction is led by the city and the Highway 14 roundabout is led by MnDot. City Engineer Joseph Stadheim said the 20th Street construction is in its first phase.

“Contractors completed all the underground utility work,” he said. “They’re currently working on subgrade prep and roadway construction. They’re expecting to subgrade, prep, place an aggregate base [Wednesday], and hopefully concrete next week. The hope is to have that segment open by July 15, weather permitting.”

Rain has put a slight damper on the project, causing days of lost work. Stadheim said they should not be enough to delay the project as long as they make up for lost time.

After phase one, Stadheim said phase two will start immediately after.

Image from MnDot. An overview shot shows the progress made on the roundabout project. Stadheim said from what he has heard the project is still on schedule.

“There will be from where they leave off on the Valley Street area to Broadway,” he said. “The hope is to have that Valley Street intersection open around the 15th and then continue with the closure up to Broadway. There’ll be signage for business access along that corridor for all those businesses that are impacted on that stretch.”

The Highway 14 roundabout project is being helmed by MnDOT. Stadheim said the underground utility work is complete there as well. He said they are currently placing slack granular material and an aggregate base and will begin paving in a few weeks.

Slack granular material is the construction term for the more sandy material they place underneath the gravel aggregate base. Stadheim said the city usually only forgoes using slack granular for strictly aggregate.

Even with the rain in the past and more rain coming Thursday and Friday according to AccuWeather, Stadheim said the project could still be completed in late July.

There will be two more construction projects started before the end of summer. A closure along German Street from 3rd North to Center Street will begin July 22nd. Stadheim said the street has infrastructure from the 1910s and the roadway pavement is in poor shape.

At the MnDOT roundabout project, a worker drives a small loader to grab more dirt.

With the complete reconstruction of this area, Stadheim said the project should last three months.

“Some of the records aren’t as accurate as we would like for stuff put in 100 years ago or more,” he said. “It’s every once in a while we’ll find a surprise where no one knew something was there. It takes more time when you’re putting in underground infrastructure.”

A much shorter project will start in late July or early August, along 12th Street South from Minnesota Street South to Valley Street South. Stadheim said the project will only take around three weeks, and generally be less disruptive than the German Street closure.

Including the MnDOT-led Highway 14 project, Stadheim said this year’s construction season is a bit busier than normal but not outside the general normal workload for city staff.

All construction work should be wrapped up by the fall, and Stadheim said it will be done before snow starts to fly.